The Big 3 0

Well this week we have have hit huge milestone in our house. Any guesses on what it may be?
My wonderful husband turned the Big 3 0! To celebrate his day we went out to his favorite restaurant, Oklahoma Joe's where we had some awesome bbq.

Then we came home and he decided that he needed to practice being the grumpy old man

And then we had cake. I made him a spiced cake with cream cheese frosting, yum.

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY NEAL!

Thanksgiving

I am finally getting around to writing about our awesome Thanksgiving weekend almost just in time for Christmas.
We left Tuesday afternoon and thanks to the increase in the speed limit through Kansas to 75 we were able to cut 1 hour and 15 minutes off of our drive! and arrived in Denver about midnight.
After sleeping in on Wednesday and getting breakfast at the Taste of Denmark bakery. We headed over to hang out with Corinna, Dustin and our new nephew (and Godson) Gavin!

Gavin was born on November 11, 2011 at 2323 hours and he weighed in at 6lbs 14oz and was 20 inches long.

 Later that night we had dinner at Jose O'Sheas, one of my favorite Mexican restaurants in Denver with Neal's dad.

Then on Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner at my parents where all the family gathered including  Nathaniel and his girlfriend Katelyn and Corinna, Dustin and Gavin. We ate a ton of yummy food and watched football.


Black Friday. We did not get up at the break of dawn to go shopping we just went in the afternoon. And that evening our friends Mike and Mallory along with their kids Ethan and Lucy (who we met for the first time) came down from Colorado Springs and we hung out at Corinna's place and ate pizza and the guys played Lego Batman and we talked and caught up on all the goings on in our lives.

And yes that's Neal playing video games and holding the baby

 Then on Saturday we just had a lazy day. In the morning we had coffee with Neal's dad. Then we spent the rest of the day with my parents and Neal had to run a few errands. We also made and decorated tiles for my aunts new house that she will use for her kitchen.

 

That night we went out to dinner at this all you can eat Italian restaurant. And again for the umpteenth time that weekend I ate way too much food.

Inevitably our weekend had to come to an end so on Sunday we met some of the family for coffee and then we hit the road and headed back to Kansas City.

I just love these weekends where we can head to Colorado and see family and friends and just wish that it was not so far.

In the Last Few Weeks

Will I have sort of dropped the ball in writing on my blog of the last few weeks. So this post is going to be a bunch of random stuff so I can get all caught up!

 October 22nd weekend
Neal and I headed down to Oklahoma to visit my brother Thomas and his wife Lindsey. That weekend her family was putting on this huge bbq. On Saturday morning we just hung around helped make some dessert items for the bbq, we made Puppy Chow and Oreo bonbons. Than when we were on our way the clouds were getting bigger and darker, and we were just hoping that the rain would hold off. But at last it did not. It pored and pored, finally there was a break in the rain so we headed to the bbq.

Then once we were there is pored and pored a ton more. So we roasted our hot dogs in the rain when it was not too bad then went back inside. Then we spent the evening chatting with people and watching the Cardinals/ Rangers World Series game


October 30th
My Birthday...
It was a great day since I did not have to work, yay! That morning we went to church then Neal wanted to take me hiking, and my first thought was hiking in Kansas you must be kidding. However, when we got to our destination Westen, MO State Park there were actually some great hills and trails. The leaves were changing their colors and it was a wonderful fall day.

Then when we got home Neal brought out his mad baking skills and made me a cake. And only 2 attempts at the frosting it turned out really yummy.

For dinner Neal wanted to surprise me and take me to this restaurant called Pot Pie, but low and behold being a Sunday they were closed. So we went to this Cajan restaurant called Jazz.

Hearts of Sweden

Earlier this week I was working in Sweden and came across these heart shaped ponds and thought that I would share them since they made my day!

Our First Anniversary!

Wow! A year ago I married my wonderful husband.

We sure have had an amazing year. To celebrate our special day I came home to a bouquet of beautiful roses from Neal.

That evening Neal and I went out to dinner at a restaurant called Urban Table where we enjoyed a great dinner. Having taken the top of our wedding cake out of the freezer earlier we came home and enjoyed some cake. It was still a bit frozen but really yummy!

I am so blessed to have such a great husband and excited to see what our future holds for us!

Happy First Anniversary Neal!

Football week 4: Chiefs vs Vikings

Neal and I went to our first professional football game together.

It was Neal's first time at a pro game and my second! We arrived about an hour or so before the game was to start. Our first impression was wow this is crazy, there were a ton of people in a sea of red and purple tailgating. We were also surprised on how many people were dressed in Vikings jerseys and as Vikings especially since Neal is a huge Vikings fan.


Once inside the stadium we found our seats and got ready for the the game start. It was such a good game to watch. Both teams went into the game 0-3 so they both really working hard for their first win. 
But in the end Neal was a bit bummed....

... because the Chiefs won 22-17.

Ooooooklahoma!

This last weekend I made a kind of a spur of the moment trip down to Oklahoma to visit my brother and sister in law for his birthday along with my parents. He is now a whopping quarter of a century old! So on Friday I got off of work, packed and hit the road. But first my hubby made me some coffee for the road. About 5 hours later I got to their place and we all chatted for a few hours and went to bed and thanks to the coffee I drank earlier my eyelids were twitching while I was trying to fall asleep.

After a good nights sleep we had breakfast and then went to the Oklahoma State Fair. There we saw the normal fair stuff, animals, a ton of food and a bunch of different vendors. In one of the building they had a bunch of newly born animals, we saw about 20 piglets and some chicks.


Once done with the fair we went decided to go to dinner but first we went to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. The memorial was amazing. For each person that was killed on April 19, 1995 they placed a chair for them and a small chair for the kids overlooking a reflecting pool that light up at night.



Then on Sunday we all went to breakfast then hit the road. My parents and I were able to caravan until Wichita so my mom road with me until then, then we headed our separate ways.

Sporting Kansas City Game

Well for those of you who are not from Kansas City or do not follow soccer. The Sporting Kansas City is the professional soccer team here. We went to the game with our friends Derek and Ashley. This being everyone's first professional soccer game it was a great one to go to.

We sat in general admissions seating so we were about 6 rows up right behind the goal.

There was a pep band that was singing and playing songs through out the entire game. It was such a fun game to watch.

Every time Sporting Kansas City scored a goal confetti was exploded onto the field.

So after 3 goals there was confetti everywhere! And in the end Sporting Kansas City won 3-0 to the Huston Dynamos

4 Day week, 4 Day weekend and another 4 Day week!

Over Labor Day weekend I was able to have only a 4 day work week on either side of it and a 4 day weekend. It was so wonderful to have a long weekend. On that Friday I took the day off just to have it off and it was such a treat. That day I had to get ready for the company that we were having over the long weekend. Neal's mom came down to visit us. She also brought her brother granddaughter so it was a full house once they got there late Friday night. That night we were actually over at some friends house having dinner with them and we were debating whether we should start a movie when Neal decided to call his mom to see where she was at. Once off the phone he says that she is about 5 minutes away and being about 10 minutes away we had to quickly say our thanks and head home.

Then on Saturday we went to the Overland Park Botanical Gardens. I have not been there in such a long time to just look at the flowers. There were so many flowers that I have not seen before and everything was landscaped so amazing. I just wish that I had the patience and the talent to landscape our yard like that. Later that afternoon we went to visit Neal at work and bring him lunch. Once Neal got off of work we went out to dinner at  Oklahoma Joe's BBQ. YUM!

On Sunday we went to church. Then we had a lazy afternoon which included napping and then we went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum. While there we made a quick look through a few of the galleries. Since by the time we got there they were only open an hour more. So we looked at some of the main exhibits. While inside I also saw the most boring job ever, a coat taker in the middle of the summer.

Then we went outside and looked at the different sculptures around the grounds. And just had to stand in front of the biggest lightning rod ever. Which was actually a giant metal tree.

 
Then with our tummies rumbling we headed home where White Chicken Chili that I had put in the crock pot earlier that day was waiting for us. Then for dessert we went over the Sherdian's Frozen Custard for ice cream.

On Monday Julie headed home. It was so great to have Neal's mom come and visit us. After she left our house was a bit quiet.

Later that afternoon Neal and I decided that we wanted to go back to the Nelson-Atkins so we went down there again, but found that it was closed. So we drove over the the Plaza and went into the Apple store and an awesome kitchen gadget store. Then we headed home.

I always love long weekends that we can just hang out and not really have too many plans to go or things to do.

Off to the Fair

About a week and a half ago now the Johnson County Fair in Gardner, KS. Neal and I headed down there with some friends (Nick and Lauren and their boys) to wander around and see what all that is going on. While there they were they were having dirt bike races, so we could hear the motors revving up and smell the racing gas, oh how that brings back some awesome childhood memories going to the races and watching my dad race! Then we headed to see the ducks and the the rabbits.
 

A little while later we went over to the show arena where 4H was showing their sheep. They are sure into the showing. They keep them warm with snazzy t-shirts and nicely styled with black spray paint on their legs and some air spray so their newly styled hair would not move.



Then we saw a guy wielding a chain saw carving a log into the shape of an eagle. Next to that there were some of his other creations.


Before we left Neal had to go over to where they were selling homemade root beer and get some. But instead of getting root beer (Which I absolute do not like) he got cream soda. Yum home made soda!


And what do you need to wrap up an fair filed evening? Ice cream of course so we headed over to Sonic.

Some Good Ol' Antiquing

This weekend I decided to continue (well really start: I have had the idea in my head for some time I just needed to start executing) a decorating project that I have been working on. So I decided to go and look for antique picture frames and drag Neal along with me.

He was extremely thrilled to join me as you can tell.

Once at the antiques mall we walked up and down all the aisles. I was looking for picture frames. Neal was just playing with everything. The first thing that caught his eye was Star Wars memorabilia.

There were a ton of fun signs with witty sayings, lots of furniture and in general just a ton of random crap.
 
After several hours I found 2 frames that I really liked. One that I will put one of our wedding pictures in and the other I put a picture of Neal's Grandpa Abbott giving Neal his first hair cut.

I do have to say that my first real antiquing venture was a success. Now I just have to continue to keep my eyes open for some more antique frames so I can keep adding to my project.